The Animal
by LoorTheDarkElf
Summary: Errol is about to learn that some creatures just don't belong in cages. Rated M for descriptions of gore. VoW plot bunny; OC centric.
1. Part 1

Welcome one and all to something of a discarded idea... or perhaps it was a dream of mine. Either way, it was too delicious to throw away... So some quick notes for those who may not be familiar with my work.

**Loor is an OC of mine who ended up in the dark warrior program. When she escaped she kinda shot Errol. She was captured once in the fanfiction she's part of, Vacation or War. If this had ever made it into the story, it would have been set after that encounter. Lyra is her darker self. **

For those who ARE familiar with my work.

**THIS IS NOT PART OF THE STORY VACATION OR WAR IN ANY WAY. JUST A PLOT BUNNY. **

Are we ready? Are we set?

**I don't own Jak, Daxter, Errol, or any other trademarked characters. **

**-Insane Fangirls Productions Presents-**

**The Animal  
><strong>**Part 1**

If there was one thing Loor had learned in the past few weeks... 'don't walk alone at night' would likely top the list.

Of course she was thinking that _now. _She'd never considered that the slums might not be safe for a girl like her, walking around for a breath of fresh air. Not that she wasn't wanted by the whole of the KG for escaping, and Errol himself out to wring her neck personally. No, she hadn't thought about such things before she left the underground without any of her weapons, not even grabbing her boots for a little after-hours stroll to clear her head of the day's events.

Her head needed a lot more than clearing now. She'd taken a gun stock to the back of the head. A KG must have recognized her. At the time it was like all of her senses had suddenly cut out, like a TV getting switched off and leaving her disoriented and confused. Now, as her vision swam back in blurry swaths of color, pain radiated from the base of her skull; where she'd been struck.

She blinked, several times, trying desperately to figure out what was going on. There was more than the pain of impact on the back of her neck. She could feel something there. Something that wasn't supposed to be there.

Her back was against something cold, and her body was upright despite her recently unconscious condition. The colors that wouldn't settle into a proper image were all various shades of battleship gray. The cold was a sharp and precise feeling in contrast, under her feet as well as her back, the smooth feel of metal extending in loops around her wrists and ankles.

She got a sick feeling stuck in the pit of her stomach. She knew what it was like to be strung up this way. She remembered it from a time not too far past, though she'd been in the chair then.

Another spot of cold pushed her chin up from where it had been resting on her chest, her eyes tracking to the side to get another wash of color. The warm color of skin, a flare of red, and two dim spaces of intense brown.

"Finally waking up, freak?"

Her vision slowly focused as she realized her predicament.

The room was a barren cell, likely within the fortress. There was nothing inside, and the space was rather small; maybe a ten foot box. There was a door on the wall across from her, but she'd be a fool to think there wouldn't be several guards outside, waiting for an escape attempt. Glaring up at where she'd been bolted to the wall by cold bands of metal was Errol, one of his pistols propping up her chin as she stared down her nose at him.

She swallowed her fear, feeling like she was also wearing a collar of some kind. It wasn't part of her metal bondage; it felt like leather. Or something else that was tough but still malleable. It shifted as she swallowed, making the intrusive pain at the back of her head stab into her, as if there were pins. She began to identify the fact that there was some sort of object placed at the back of her head, at the top of the spinal column. There was a band around her neck, holding it on. It felt like it was... hooked into her skin.

"What the hell...?" She tried to shake her head, but doing so only hurt her more. The thing at the back of her skull was rather securely attached.

"About what I said. I never expected you to fall right into my lap after all the trouble we had bringing you in the first time." Errol snickered, some of his insanity leaking through as he holstered the gun and looked up at her with his hands on his hips. "But here you are... and I have a game I'd like to play with you."

"If you're planning on torturing me, you can skip it and just shoot me." She spat, both verbally and literally, her mind still coming around. Errol's grinning face brought her back to a dark place. This man alone had nearly destroyed everything when he first captured her. Last time she was strapped down in his presence she'd been too afraid to speak so brazenly. Now, she was too angry to be afraid.

"Torture?" He sounded mildly offended. "Oh no, this is a much more... _scientific_ operation. As interesting as you are, there's someone else I'd rather like to meet."

She stared at him, confused at first as his face split into a wide grin. She didn't trust that face, nor his assertion that this wouldn't be torture. It was Errol; his proximity to her was torture... and she had no hope of an easy escape. No one knew that she was gone; not even Jak. She made sure of it when she left the underground... and she highly doubted she'd get help from the inside again; Ryan was clearly one-of-a-kind. "Who...?" She began to ask, still-cloudy eyes blinking as she bit her lip to try and regain some cognitive ability.

Errol turned on his heel, walking to the far end of the room and grinning. "Does she have a name?" He asked as he got to the wall, rounding once more to face her. Once there something about the room changed; there was a metal grill coming down from the ceiling that was separating off the two feet of space that Errol was standing in. It looked like steel mesh, holes big enough to see through but tightly woven enough that a person wouldn't even be able to lace their fingers through it.

She stared at this grill instead of answering him, eyes wide and curious as her jaw worked on keeping all the bile she wanted to spit at him in her head and out of the way. Her rage didn't matter. She had to figure out how to escape.

"It's a fence." He said to her gaze. "If she's half as strong as the other one, she'll probably break right out of those restraints... but this should give her a little more pause for thought, don't you think?"

"She..." Loor shook her groggy brain before she finally got it. "Wait... Lyra!"

The thing at the back of her neck. Hooked in to deliver something, anything from an electrical shock to poison, directly to her brain.

But she knew exactly what he was going to pump into her system.

"Ah, she does have a name." Errol snickered, wearing a grin that said he felt like he'd won something. "Nice speaking with you, Loor, but we should get started."

"No!" She bellowed, suddenly frantic. It was one thing that Errol had her trapped and strapped up, but the fact that he wanted to bring Lyra out was a whole 'nother ball game. The animal would kill him; that fence looked like nothing. Lyra would cut through it like warm butter, and then rip him apart. "She'll kill you! She doesn't think when she comes to the surface! She doesn't have the ability!"

"Ability?" Errol's grin only widened as Loor felt the sparks; a rush of power zinged down her spine and up into her brain, making her bellow and arch away from the wall she'd been locked to. "Or time?"

She screamed as she resisted the raw energy suddenly coursing through her, but a direct jolt of eco to the brain was almost impossible to ignore. Not for her, she couldn't ignore the pain, period.

But Lyra was brought to attention, unable to resist.

The transformation could not be denied. Loor's scream of pain became a roar that was almost pleasured, her skin turning white as the girl's psyche was shoved out of the way for a more beastly mentality to take over. Sparks made her black hair stand on end, a light coating of fur spreading to her ears and down her spine as the purple sparks raced over her skin. Eyes formally closed in agony now sprung open, pure black and looking about eagerly for something to hunt as claws came forth from feeble human nails. Fur that had followed her spine now led further to a tail, putting the final touches on a creature more animal than woman.

Lyra roared again, realizing that she'd been restrained. Muscles overpowered by eco yanked forward, causing the steel shackles to stretch and ultimately break with a squeal of metal ripping away from the wall. Pulling forward she freed herself and shook as her body instantly took to a four-legged posture, tail up as her black eyes continued the search for prey.

There was a thin wall between herself and another creature. Human, she noted, but not fearful of her. She smelt no sweat on him, detected no anxiety in his posture...

How foolish. If she wasn't mistaken, there was a curve to the lips of this man that actually indicated he was pleased with her presence, not at all disturbed or even the slightest bit shocked. At first she might have had the capacity to be puzzled, but faced with such stupidity she couldn't resist her natural instincts; something so dumb deserved to be dead.

With a purring growl she gathered her legs under herself, kicking off the cold metal floor to spring forward, talons out to rend the thin wall of metal mesh and get at the silly creature's flesh on the other side. He didn't even flinch as she flew at him, that curve on his face only turning more upwards.

She let a scream out as the net of metal caught her and burned her with blue light and sparks. At once she twisted away, landing back on her side of the barricade with a frustrated snarl, getting back up as the fur on her tail and the line that continued up her spine stood straight up in agitation. Her ears laid flat to her head as she hissed at the man that was officially out of her reach, bearing her fangs while scratching the floor.

She didn't have time for these games. Her instinct was to hunt; to kill quickly and revel in the blood. She enjoyed using her fangs; ripping open tissue-soft flesh and enjoying the visceral spectacle of it all; people had so many interesting parts to rip. The neck was a clear favorite, but the chest was also fun to rip open and pull pieces out. Major muscles could be bitten and torn, fingers broken and often slashed right off, bones snapped and skin peeled away like the outside of a fruit; all with particular sounds and sensations to go with the different acts... but she was instead trapped by this strange fence, and running out of time, as always.

She never had enough time.

The human on the other side of the metal fence took this time to speak to her. At first she didn't pay attention, instead pacing her cage and growling at him from time to time as he paused, seemingly waiting for a reaction. All of her hair was standing up; an illusion of being bigger than she was that didn't work since she wasn't completely furred. She didn't look at him either, getting fed up and attempting to attack the wall again.

Once more she burned for it, screaming as the smell of her own singed hair made it into her sensitive nose.

He was still talking, she noted. She didn't care. She wanted to kill him. She wanted to rip him. He must have trapped her; rage overtook her mind with the desperate need to make him pay.

There was only one thing that broke that. One thing that made her listen.

"Lyra."

Her spoken name made her snap to attention, staring at him from where she'd been knocked to the floor by the zappy-fence. Mid-snarl, she became quiet and stared at him, holding still in her attempts to roll back to her feet and figure out another way to get around the blockade and into him. She imagined ripping off his fingers one by one, perhaps amputating each of his toes as well before moving on to his hands and feet, dicing him into smaller and smaller pieces until he died. He was the only one here that she could see, so there was no need to focus her energy anywhere else.

But he spoke her name. She knew the sound of her name from Loor saying it out loud every now and then. It sounded different on his voice. He saw her differently; he could tell from the tone. She also knew his voice, but didn't take time to analyze. She didn't have that time. Eco was always limited; she had until the fatigue took her, and she couldn't waste a second of it.

He spoke again, but it was just like the things Loor said; besides her name she didn't understand it. At first he stopped and started several times, as if he was testing her reactions against whatever he said, but he eventually seemed to get that all meaning was lost on her.

He then turned his head slightly; she noticed there was a door on the wall beyond him. A portal to the outside. It got her attention instantly as he spoke again; words intended for someone outside. There were more people around, and an escape. Such things excited her immensely; more squishy meat-bags for her to rip apart if she could just get around the _stupid _wall in the middle of the room.

She was suddenly distracted by a surge; almost exactly indentical to the one that had brought her to the living realm; a cry of pleasure escaped her, purring as a wash of pure eco raced through her veins and made her want to roll about on the ground as if it were covered in silk. Her reaction led her attention to find the source, seeking where the rush had come from.

Rolling to her feet and looking away from her prey, she realized there was something strapped to her. A tube was coming out of the wall, turned black by its contents. She could feel a collar around her neck, something that made her want to rip her own throat out in trying to get it off, but she was held back by another feeling.

Something was hooked into the back of her neck... and it was feeding her. She could feel a constant flow of eco; infinite. She hadn't noticed before; she hadn't been paying attention... but now her attention had been called to it, and she was putting some pieces together.

Her time wasn't limited. That's why this man was wasting his time, trying to talk to her. They both had time; her to figure out how to escape this prison, and he to try and... well, she wasn't sure what his goal was, and she didn't honestly care.

She turned to face him once more, but she didn't hiss at him. It was clear he had given this to her. He'd given her the ability to last longer in this world, and live outside Loor's control. For that, she purred at him, her fur settling a little as she sat and stared at him intently, tail bobbing back and forth as she watched him.

She expected him to do something now that she'd calmed; that seemed to be his first and initial goal.

But in calming she came to realize who she was staring at. Her nose and eyes finally led her to the finer points of this human; red hair and insane brown eyes, along with tattoos, were things burned into Loor's memory and so were things Lyra knew as well. The scent was also familiar; one she'd had between her talons before.

She stared at Errol; her creator.

The purr became stronger, a grin spreading across her lips and making her fangs peek out as the upper lip stretched too thin to cover her maw.

He returned that grin; turning his head to the outside once more and speaking again. That irritated her; she had no idea what he was saying; she couldn't communicate with him, though he clearly wanted to be communicating with her. What was the point of this? She wouldn't sit still for long; she didn't want to. She wanted to act.

He approached the wall that stood between them, reaching out for it. Her hair stood on end again; what was he doing?

He touched it.

Nothing happened.

Was he trying to tell her it was safe?

She carefully let her hands to the floor, slinking closer and staring at the fence suspiciously, growling softly as she looked at his fingers. They were laced through now; she could have tried to bite at him. He was wide open; fingers bled incredibly well, and she did love the feeling of hot droplets on her skin.

Instead she lifted her nose up to carefully sniff at his hands, growling softly again before quickly touching her face to the fence.

She pulled back just as quickly, yowling. He was laughing at her. It had still burnt her! She glared, roaring at his deception. He'd tricked her into touching it again for his own entertainment. By now he'd let go, pulling his digits back to the safe side and smirking.

He then spoke one other word she understood.

"Eco."

He then mimed touching the fence and pulling back. She narrowed her eyes at him, but it was simple enough to understand; the fence burnt her because of the eco she lived off of. Because it was in her body, the wall would shock her.

He was making the point that she was effectively trapped. She would not be free of this cage as long as there was eco in her body, and starving herself of it would allow Loor back to the surface; neither option allowed her to go after revenge for how her nose currently felt after getting touched to the painful surface, but the only other option was to do nothing. To sit in complacent captivity; alive but stupidly occupying space without any purpose.

She refused. She couldn't. She roared at him again, throwing a physical tantrum. Claws dug into the metal of the floor and walls, weight slammed onto every surface besides the fence, all noise she was capable of making getting forced out of her throat. Sparks of eco lashed out from her person, destructive waves that she hoped would reach him but were sadly adsorbed by the same thing that had burnt her. She even went to far as to grab it again, though it only garnered another scream as the heat and pain forced her back against the wall where she was leashed.

And it was a leash. The tube may have fed eco into her system; given her unlimited time in this living realm, but while it took one limit away it gave her new one; her mobility was hampered for fear of breaking the connection. Even as she raged at her bondage, the tugs she felt on the collar around her neck made her movements less rambunctious.

He was laughing at her, standing just beyond that infuriating wall with his arms crossed and a smug smile upon his face. He spoke, but she didn't know nor care why.

She wanted to get to him. Dominate him. Kill him. She wanted to rip and tare him in the most desperate of ways.

Those wants were denied as he turned and left by the door that was also out of her reach.

She was left alone in the cell, still letting out howls of rage.


	2. Part 2

**I don't own Jak and Daxter, Errol, or the KG. Lyra and Loor are mine. Do not steal. **

**-Insane Fangirls Productions Presents-**

**The Animal  
><strong>**Part 2**

The experiment was making excellent progress. Errol had to smile slightly when he considered the fact that he'd had a monster born of dark eco in captivity. She wasn't the slightest bit happy about it, of course, but that was part of the reason he smiled. The cruelty of her bondage brought him an odd joy, watching her fruitless attempts to escape on the playback of a security camera. She'd clawed at the walls, striking sparks more than once as her body let off arcs of eco to burn the area around her, often doing some damage to her own flesh in the process. Her desperation redoubled every hour or so, throwing herself at the eco fence regardless to the fact that she _knew_ it would burn her.

All of this gave him some insight to how her mind worked. She was perfectly primitive, without even a grasp of language beyond her own name and a few key words. Her rage made her irrational and determined, and she was quite able to ignore pain if she had a higher goal in mind.

The feed Errol watched had been monitored by another guard since he'd left her alone in her cell, the video then edited to only include parts where she'd been doing something different, the timestamp being the only way to tell how long she'd been at a single activity. He would have watched himself, but he did have other things on his plate besides the investigation of this creature. Now he was given her agony and rage in a short synopsis, watching as her image jumped from wall to wall, scratching and butting her body against the metal, leaving dents and long lines in the metal.

The eco made her body strong enough to preform these things; to take a frail human shell and make it into something dangerous. From a single overview he got to learn just how powerful she'd become, from physical strength to slinging eco away from her body as a destructive wave, making some parts of her captivity melt.

She was every bit the monster they'd been trying to create... and yet she still wore Loor's face.

That made this all the more worth while. Errol had wanted to see her like this since their first meeting.

Loor had been quite the little actress when she made her jailbreak, playing the helpless child in a big scary world. As attractive as her body had become, his true interest had been in how easily it would have been to take advantage of her... or how easy it had seemed when she'd been crying and begging for her life. Sadly that had been nothing more than a charade to distract from the fact that her sister, another experiment, had woken up and had been changing into her own dark form.

The younger sister had attacked him, and Loor had stolen his gun. She'd even gone so far as to shoot at him, hitting him in the arm. The wound had been an easy enough fix, but that wasn't the point. There was no creature in this world, human or not, that had made him bleed and lived to tell the tale. She'd used the immediate moment of pain to run with her younger sister, and they'd played their game of cat and mouse since.

He'd caught her once before, but she'd been rescued before he had the chance to exact any sort of punishment for her crimes against him.

Now, even as her other self, she was stuck in that cage. Raging at the walls and harming herself in her desperation to get free. Screams of agony and protest made a dangerous smirk spread across his face.

The video skipped forward again. She'd gone from kneading a wall with her talons to making yet another attempt at the fence. The timestamp told him she'd been at this for hours, and the rough squeal of pain only cemented that. She was becoming exhausted.

She didn't seem stupid... she was clearly self-aware, and yet she still tried and tried to throw herself through the blockade. This was the definition of insanity; trying something over and over again and expecting a different result. Or, perhaps, she didn't expect it.

Maybe she just couldn't hold still.

He chuckled as she was thrown onto the floor, once more noting the timestamp. It was almost at the end of the recording, and it wasn't too far behind the current time; the greater part of an hour past. He expected her to get up and make another try, but he blinked as she clumsily got back onto all fours and leaned her shoulder to the wall.

She became still, only her tail twitching now and again indicating that she was till alive and awake.

The recording ended.

He stood up from the station he'd been watching at; the guard who had edited it for him was close at hand in case he wanted to see any of the extra bits that had been cut out to give the commander the range of the creature's abilities in the shortest amount of time. "It took hours, but it looks like it's exhausted itself." He chuckled, still wearing that smirk.

"Yes sir." The guard nodded, moving out of the way as Errol stepped away from the chair he'd been sitting in, watching as he moved to leave the security bunker. "It is still awake for now. We will watch and note any new behaviors as they happen."

The question of whether or not the creature was actually capable of sleeping was left unspoken. This... Lyra was a mystery. She was everything they'd wanted out of the Dark Warrior Program; wrapped up in a shell that was incapable of any sort of communication, and impossible to persuade or manipulate.

"I think I may visit it." Errol snickered, reaching the door and letting himself out before the guard could even manage a salute of recognition.

He enjoyed her suffering, but he was also curious. There was a reason he headed up this program and spoke with all the egg-heads; he was interested in all of these things. Manipulating human genetics was a concept so delicious he spent his fair share of time in the labs himself. There were plenty of scientists, all drafted for the war effort, who were more than happy to explain anything before he'd even asked the question. All he had to do was look at a project, and they'd start babbling before he started shooting, or playing with dials and switches on containment tanks. If they didn't explain it, he'd dive right in to figure it out for himself.

His curiosity could prove dangerous now and again; the pale spot on his arm reminded him of that. The bullet Loor had put in his arm had been the first time he'd ever been shot by a test subject, and it had taken long enough to get ahold of a health pack that it had permanently scarred.

He'd never forget the damage she'd done. Granted, if she'd never ran he would have shot her right there, and he would have never known just how effective the IV branch of the Dark Warrior Program had been.

His expression turned somewhat irritated as he remembered these facts, walking down several metal corridors to return to the prison blocks. The damage he'd taken had been something of a necessity to the current situation... but nothing changed how badly he wanted to make her suffer for thinking she could get away with it.

But the experiment was allowing him that. Trapping her was as good as torture, if her noise was any hint. That brought his smile back.

The current plan was to learn as much as possible about her powers, see if she could be controlled, and then use her to spearhead an attack on the metal head nest. The egg heads were already figuring out a way an eco source could be strapped to her back during battle, but the fact remained that she didn't understand the spoken word. If they had no way of communicating with her, and that was assuming she'd even cooperate once she knew what they wanted her to do, she'd be another failure to dispose of.

And if that were the case, he would gladly be the one to dispatch her. He'd cut off her eco supply and let Loor come back to the surface. He'd watch her face as he explained to her; she was smart and able to understand all of the things they were doing. She'd be insatiably curious, but the despair would take soon enough as she realized there was no escape; that she would die here.

Even if they could use Lyra, she'd still have to be gotten rid of after the war was over to cover-up what went on inside the fortress. The townies just might be sparked into a rebellion if they knew by what means the war ended. Either way, he'd have the pleasure of putting a bullet between her eyes.

He stopped; he'd entered the prison blocks and now stood outside of the door the custom cell he'd designed for her. With a quick correspondence with the scanner outside he unlocked the door and allowed himself in.

She was still leaned against the wall he'd seen her against on the video feed. She'd come down to her knees and elbows, talons still tensing against the metal floor and leaving little scratches whenever she managed to get the edge to drag. Fangs were left on display as her jaw hung open, soft panting coming from between her lips as her body moved with a regular sway, still hitting the wall with her shoulder. There was no strength behind it, but she seemed simply incapable of stopping.

Her black eyes were half-closed and dull, her ears fallen as her head hung most of the way down. Her hair was still held back by the red scarf her host wore around her head, though it was messy and unkempt from all the struggling she'd done.

She didn't react to the sound of the door. She just kept thumping her shoulder against the wall. Her tail lay on the ground, exhibiting only a small twitch to the left or the right when she made impact with the wall. From the way she depended more on the arm away from the wall to hold her up, he had to guess she'd damaged the one she was still drumming on the metal. Dislocation was possible, but a break from the way she'd been throwing herself around was more likely.

And she was still abusing it, even though she knew her attempts were beyond futile at this point.

She had to know.

He watched her quietly, noting other ways she's harmed herself in the mere hours she'd been stuck. Red welts that would likely bruise covered all of her exposed skin, layers of skin missing where she'd taken the toughest impacts, bleeding dark purple at some points. The smell of burnt hair hung in the air, and the dark imprints of sparks showed on the brown leather of her shirt and belt.

And still she beat upon the wall. Fruitlessly, likely overloaded with pain.

He grinned; she probably couldn't even process it. An unstoppable force of strength and power.

Then, her head dipped further. It was as if it were suddenly too heavy for her neck to hold up, her shoulder hitting the wall and staying there. Soft growling that had been coming from her now faded even further, her panting calming down to a smoother rhythm.

Had she fallen asleep?

Her body suddenly jerked back, falling away from the wall and onto her side as she gave a cry. It wasn't like the pained screams she'd been letting out, or the enraged roars that left her exhausted. No, this was surprised.

Frightened.

Her black eyes were now wide as she looked around herself, laying on her side and her tail whipping about as her body wiggled to roll over and get back up, agitated.

She was scared of something... but she didn't seem to be a creature capable of fear. What could she fear? She was strong, armed, dangerous... not even the fact that her form was ultimately female hindered her. She bore no sensitivity; he knew that from the way she'd looked at him. She glared with murderous intent before; he knew that look from himself, and it was most entertaining to see it on someone else who was incapable of harming him.

But now she was terrified, like a child waking up from a nightmare but sure the monster was still under their bed.

It was now that she noticed him. She looked up from where she lay and saw him, staring as her nose flared, finally flipping over from her back to stand up completely; instead of sitting low to the ground on all fours she brought herself to stand like a human, like Loor, on two legs with her shoulders pushed back.

The shoulder she'd been beating on the wall, the right shoulder, didn't shift back. It hung limp and low. She _had_ dislocated it; something that would require a re-setting of the bone by outside hands.

Once she'd drawn to the full height of her fleshy shell, she hissed at him, attempting intimidation. This made him smirk at her again; so she had a sense of pride. She didn't like that he'd seen her fearful reaction.

He approached the fence, not touching it but simply standing a little closer to look at her. Pure black eyes stared at him, but they were still dull despite being wide. She was exhausted... as impressive as it was that she'd struggled for so long without rest, she would need to sleep some time... and this cell hadn't been meant to contain her for more than a few hours. They had another one ready for her, with another fence and another eco feed for the receptacle on the back of her neck. It also had a low bed and a toilet, like any other prison cell.

But that cell was waiting for his order to move her... and he hadn't given it yet. And he wouldn't until she was truly worn out; it wasn't safe to move this monster until she was beaten into submission.

Her body wavered on the spot. Her tail, having been hanging limp, suddenly raised to help her balance, a deep growl coming up from her chest.

"Can you sleep...?" He wondered, mostly to himself since he knew she didn't understand.

Which made it more interesting when she reacted. At the last word, the mention of 'sleep', she yowled and hissed again with greater intensity of protest, actually backing up; away from him. Her fear was etched into her pale features, clenching her fangs as if she could scare him off.

Could it be...?

She feared falling asleep.

The very idea was confusing, but at the same time it made a small semblance of sense; she'd never done it before. She took Loor's body for her own, wreaked havoc on the world around her, and then faded back. She knew no rest, only life and stasis. She didn't understand the true meaning to having flesh; injury and death were things that happened to others, not her.

Sleeping had to feel like dying to her. It ignited her exhausted body to be tense, all the fur on her tail standing up and making it look uncharacteristically fluffy.

He crossed his arms over his chest, still wearing his smile. The merciful thing would have been to sedate her and move her; force her into sleep and prove it wasn't something she had to fear.

But he had never been very merciful. When he spoke it was to the guard he knew would be watching the security feed. "Move it when it falls asleep of its own accord. I'll be in tomorrow morning to see how it's holding up."

Again, at his mention of sleep, she yowled.

He realized then that there was something still strange... how did she know that word? Her own name made sense, and eco was a word she understood probably because it was her life-blood... but why would she understand, and fear, sleep? What did the word actually mean to her, and how did she know it's sound?

She was a source of curiosity, but those trivial things were of little interest. Unless it would help him control her, he really didn't have the time to care. Knowing her fears meant he knew how to threaten her. Leaving her to struggle against her own terror would only cement it instead of alleviating it; once she knew it he'd teach her about ways he'd be able to force her into it.

Properly leashed, she'd be every bit the weapon they'd hoped for.

He turned to leave her alone in her cell once more, shutting the door as her head drooped and she began her squeals of protest once more.


	3. Part 3

****I don't own Jak and Daxter, Errol, or the KG. Lyra and Loor are mine. Do not steal.****

**-Insane Fangirls Productions Presents-**

**The Animal  
><strong>**Part 3**

Loor awoke to screaming. It made her gasp and sit up, throwing her own voice into the mix as surprise made her most primal reaction her first, drawing her blanket up to her chest as she rose from a soft pillow, twisting the silk in her fingers as her eyes glanced about wildly.

Almost at once the texture was wrong to her; for some reason she expected to awake within the underground with her rough pillow and scratchy blanket. Instead, she was in her own mind, wearing her robe of green and purple, clutching a slick blanket of emerald luster as an amethyst pillow welcomed her head back down to the floor of the room she shared with Lyra. Her own yelp ended quickly, but the scream that had woken her continued.

And Lyra was screaming.

It was a noise of true terror; that of a helpless animal facing it's final end without doubt of death nor hope of escape. Lyra's usually melodic voice tore through the room without none of her seductive charm intact, instead twisting the mindscape with her emotions and making the place turn dark with dread. Finding her against a wall, Loor saw her a broken creature; her robes disheveled and her body bruised. Her hair was dull and matted, ears flat back as she pressed her pale face to the wall, claws digging in as if she intended to run from something.

And still she screamed. Her jaw was open to exert true sound instead of the thoughts they threw at each other; this was her primal way of communication that she knew on the outside.

Did she think she was still out there? She usually didn't bother with anything besides purring or growling on the inside.

Loor couldn't stand it. She was able to feel the animal's emotions with great fidelity, and it was beginning to infect her. There was fear on the surface, but there was something else pulsing at it's core that needed to be addressed. The terror covered a much greater emotion, distracting from it for these precious moments.

Without questioning why she awoke in her mind instead to the living world, as it usually was once Lyra had taken over, Loor dove from where she'd sat up and took hold of the animal, pulling her away from the wall and securing her arms around her middle. At first it was in hopes of containing her, but it morphed into a hug. With her ability to feel Lyra's emotions most intimately came Loor's strong empathy. Without even knowing what happened, and regardless to her hatred for the creature sometimes, she was able to pity her.

Whatever happened, it couldn't have been good. It was still getting into her senses; she was becoming frightened with nothing to truly fear. As they began to attune to each other and sync the room grew even darker, the corners seeming to hold things more monstrous than the animal that Loor now held in her arms. Unknown fiends watched them, ready to pounce at the first sign of weakness. Loor was sure of it, and felt the need to watch those corners to make sure nothing could sneak up on her. The primal urge to scream, to make noise and intimidate an unknown enemy before it realized how small she was-

_Lyra!_ Loor snapped her head back to her beast, who was still kicking in her arms and screaming for all she was worth. _Calm down! I need you to calm down before you wrap me up in this! Your reaction is too strong!_

The animal gasped suddenly, letting off a weaker noise as surprise coursed through her. She panted out of her nose, shaking her head as Loor realized they'd both fallen to the floor. She held Lyra in her lap, sitting up on a magenta quilt.

It took some time, but Lyra finally looked around herself, realizing she was safe in a place she knew. As she relaxed the room grew brighter, once again feeling like the home they shared. Loor joined her, noticing something else.

There was an odd quality to the room. Something had changed. She had trouble putting her finger on it at first...

_There's more purple in here than usual. _

_**They're still pumping eco into us... my psyche is at full power; it must take more presence in here as well. **_

Lyra was yet to fight Loor's grip, which was odd to say the least. If they touched each other it was always initiated by Lyra and was either a hand of lust or rage. Loor had expected the beast to dislike anything she hadn't started, but she seemed comfortable enough in her host's arms, actually relaxing back into her chest as a great cool wave of relief spread through her.

And then burning rage. It bloomed suddenly, violently, as Lyra leapt up to her feet, talons in full view as she snarled at the walls. _**That bastard! The worm... Coward! Giving me freedom and then... no, he gave me no freedom. He gave me life and then put me in a cage... Cut him! I'll cut him! I need to wake up and rip him apart! I-**_

The animal faltered. As hot as her rage burned, there was another feeling; exhaustion. It was chill against her loathing, but in truth led to a comfortable and warm numbness that welcomed one into proper sleep-

_**NO! **_She turned to Loor, who had been yawning as she felt it too. Her body was beyond this mind, crying out for them both to go into stasis so her brain could properly rest. **_I... I was... scared... I... always sleep for days... I need to kill him... I need to cut him now! Before he cuts me! He looks at me that way, I know he will! He will when we're sleeping... he's a coward! _**

_What are you talking about...? _Loor forced herself up, feeling the heavy weight of fatigue. She still didn't know what had gone down while she was out of it, but she was getting more worried the longer this conversation with Lyra went on... the animal was clearly disturbed by something... But Loor was disoriented. She could remember enough to know that Lyra had taken control, but she'd forgotten exactly how. Her head hurt... had someone hit her recently?

Standing up, she put her hands out to touch Lyra's head. Unpracticed, she needed direct contact to go through Lyra's memories. The animal didn't deny her, coming back to her host and lowing her brow in submission, pushing the important memories to the forefront of her mental activity so Loor wouldn't have to dig very far; she wasn't particularly good at it.

Loor jolted as she was reminded exactly where her body was laying right now; passed out in a cell within the fortress. She grew more disturbed as Lyra's passionate struggles flashed through in fast-motion, all the rage and agony getting pressed together in a few precious sections, full memories getting burnt into her own conscious mind. Hate flared up so intense it actually left a flavor on her tongue similar to blood, and the root of all of this was made very clear.

All of this loathing, this rage, was directed at Errol. His smug smile and posture with his arms crossed over his chest, challenging them from the other side of the fence that had so effectively blocked Lyra from doing any damage to him.

Loor gasped, yet to break from her darker self as she understood every word that Lyra had bothered to remember, despite not knowing what the sounds meant. _They're going to move us... The experiment...? Oh shit..! _

A small amount of fear rose up in her, independent of Lyra's previous terror.

_He's been trying to communicate with you this whole time... sometimes he's been threatening you... oh God... assuming the threats aren't empty, if you don't start showing some understanding soon he's going to kill us. _

_**I don't speak like you... I can't understand. **_She snorted, shaking her head and backing away from Loor's touch.

_You understand some. You know your name. I saw that. You know eco. You... have an idea of what sleep is. _

The animal growled a warning. **_I was only afraid that he would kill me if I let my guard down... Mortal fear. That was all. _**

Loor nodded slightly, not chasing down the real reason Lyra was afraid. The feeling had been unfamiliar to her, and she'd been scared that she might have been dying because she was never made to sleep outside of the mindscape. _Sleeping with a body is a little different... it tends to wake up if someone disturbs you. But that's besides the point..._

She then sighed, shaking her head and turning away from Lyra, beginning to pace the length of the room. The animal watched her closely, and she could sense the beast's attention. Lyra expected her to have some kind of plan; some course of action, like she always did. Granted, she did have an idea, but it only coincided with her own goals; escaping. She wanted to get out without harming Errol and killing a minimum of Krimzon Guards.

_**No. **_Lyra could sense these thoughts before Loor even formed words. **_I will cut him. He has trapped me, taunted me, laughed in my face and watched me destroy myself with pleasure on his smell. He must suffer. I must take something from him, and the only thing I find equal is his life. I don't care about the rest... you can have this body back after that, but I will make him suffer. _**

_We can't kill him! _Loor felt a dangerous mix of emotions plowing through her as she shouted back at her other self, though mentally. Her iron will mixed in with a hot flare of anger that Lyra was so willing to ignore the rules that bound them for revenge laid over an undeniable frustration that, after seeing Lyra's memories, she wanted him dead too. _Attack him, maybe, but I don't trust you not to go all the way! We MUST leave him alive at all costs; he's necessary for how this war ends; this world needs him alive! _

Lyra did little more than growl at her host at first, staring with black eyes as she gauged the air in the room. _**You want control back. You'd rather face him yourself. **_

_That would be nice. _

_**You have no power. No leverage. He would kill us, that would be that. **_

_Much longer and that will be the least of my worries..._ She let off a sigh of greater frustration. _You were out there for a long time... it's been a day by now, at least. The underground knows I'm missing. I didn't bring my comm. unit, so they don't know where I am, but I'm sure Errol will drop a hint to Jak soon enough to taunt him. He's like that. And knowing Jak, since we're... friends... and with how he hates Errol... he doesn't need much of an excuse to take a suicidal detour in here and try to bust me out. He might get himself killed, or kill Errol... or maybe kill Errol and then get gunned down by the KG..._

_**So what's worse? **_Lyra questioned. **_Letting me handle that coward and possibly killing him, or letting him charge in and guarantee someone important will die? _**

Loor groaned in frustration, but she knew Lyra was right. Even if they just laid down and died, Errol would still probably try and taunt Jak right into the wasps' nest with the fact that she was missing.

It was crazy, but she'd have to trust the animal to get them out of here.

_Promise you'll do your best not to kill him. _She said before letting go completely. She knew Lyra's promises were like fire on a windy day, but she still needed to hear it for some comfort. _Wound him a little, but don't kill him. _

_**I will cut him. **_Lyra snarled, her tail bristling for a moment before smoothing out again, nodding slightly. **_But I will let him live. He will suffer, but he will not die. _**

* * *

><p>When Lyra awoke, it was with the sensation of something soft under her head. Not as soft as her pile of bedding within Loor's mindscape, but softer than the metal floor she'd passed out on. She lay on her side, and it didn't take her long to realize the move that Loor had predicted had happened; she was in a different cell. She lay on a low bed, and there was some sort of seat not far away. As she moved to slide off of the bed and onto the floor she sighted a new fence, exactly the same as the last one, standing between her and the door.<p>

At once she remembered her rage at captivity. It almost stopped all other examination of the current situation, but her mind was quickly distracted from something she already knew and hated by something else that was new.

Whenever she took Loor's body, Lyra found herself with a particular dislike for Loor's clothes. Her tail started lower than Loor wore her pants, and it always forced her to either carry her tail high or shift the girl's belt down, and it rubbed her fur the wrong way. Not that she ever thought to complain to her host when there were always more interesting things to fight about, what with the _delicious_ man she refused to initiate any contact with and a world full of squishy beings that she was so skittish about ripping. Getting back to the point, Lyra didn't feel that discomfort. Her tail was free to move without any obstruction.

She looked to herself to find Loor's clothes had been taken. She was dressed in something else, and while she didn't bother to examine particulars beyond the sickening color of yellow she did notice that some sort of special hole had been made for her tail.

She could also see the black tube that connected back with the wall behind the bed she'd just slid off of; she was still hooked into the eco system. She could feel the collar around her neck, and even though she was aware that it gave her life she was tempted to rip it off. She hated the feeling of having such constriction around her neck. Laying teeth on another's neck was a sign of dominance, and she felt as if every person in this building had done that to her simply by leaving the collar on her skin.

Her ears cocked in a new direction as she heard the door to her cell opening and closing with a metallic thud. Her nose told her who had joined her before her eyes tracked to the wall that was beyond her reach.

And with that smell, her rage came unchecked.

Her tormentor stood at the door, smiling at her as she looked up and snarled at him. How dare he smile at her? His grin foretold more suffering; a smile that made her aware of his pleasure at her captivity.

"Awake so soon." He spoke through his twisted grin. "I had expected you to rest a little more, Lyra."

She stood up again, tall and straight, not realizing someone had fixed her shoulder while she'd been out of it, growling a challenge at him when her name was mentioned. Her tail came up, her fur standing on end once more as she approached the wall that separated them, fingers held apart and slightly curled to display both her talons and her intent to use them. They were long black skewers that she wanted to dig into his flesh; she wanted to find the spaces between his ribs and pull her claws through each one, just skimming the important organs underneath.

She wanted to teach him a new meaning of pain.

"So hostile already?" He took on a tone that was almost cooing, matching the step she'd taken to the fence. "Oh, why do I even bother talking to you anymore? You probably didn't understand a word outside your name... did you? You _look_ like a person... you _look_ intelligent... but that's not you, is it? That big brain belongs to your host, not you. You're little more than a twisted abomination... dangerous and disgusting."

Her growling had grown in volume as he'd spoken, but it was only when he'd finished that she slid a foot forward, now bare to show the talons that she also bore on her toes, to draw her body within an inch of the fence. The next noise she produced came with great effort, strangled in her throat and butchered by her tongue and fangs.

But, in the end, it still came out.

"Hy... unn-dur... st-t-t-and..."

She spoke to him.

Something impossible happened that finally made her smile.

He blinked. His own smile didn't drop, but he blinked at her sudden attempt at speech.

"So she does speak." He met her physical challenge, coming closer. If the fence had not existed they would have been nose-to-nose. Either way, he was able to look directly into her pitch-black eyes with a grin. "Why listen to me now, and not yesterday? I gave you plenty of reason to talk to me."

Her fur, all of it, was still on end as her body clenched against unfamiliar noises. She wasn't used to being so particular with her growls and tone, but it was necessary to show her understanding. "Loor_rrr..." _She ended up purring over the 'R', "...t-t-tea-chesss..."

"So this _isn't _you." He concluded, his voice turning just a little too sweet. "The human in you is teaching the animal to walk like a man... will you start becoming like her? It would make things much easier for me; she's so easy to frighten. People always are. They're soft, weak. Animals don't understand fear... you have to hope they can be trained, or you have to shoot them."

She blinked, as if she didn't quite get what he was saying about her.

"Do you understand training, Lyra?" He looked like he wanted to laugh at her. It made her hate for him begin to bubble again. She could feel the static on her skin; loose eco sparks dancing on the fur that ran up her spine. "That's where I teach you to be my obedient little _pet. _And if not..." His hands dropped away from his chest, instead laying on a piece of metal strapped to his hips. She'd seen that shape enough times to know what it was.

He was threatening to shoot her if she didn't do as she was told. He smiled at her still, his teeth showing. His lips actually drew back for a toothy smile, and that is what she looked at. She didn't care about the gun, but instead she looked at his teeth.

They were so flat. So dull. He had canines, but they were so small. Pitiful, really.

She would be ashamed if she let such dull teeth press to her neck.

She drove herself the final inch forward, putting her talons through the fence and locking her knuckles to it. She knew it would burn her, and as it did she refused her own scream. Instead she put more of her body into it, letting the pain and burning dance over her as she put her face that much closer to his, enduring the agony. That was nothing; she was captive and leashed. Nothing could hurt her more than that.

"Hy... willl... c-c-c-ut-t-t... hyu..."

She began to tare the fence. Brute strength allowed her to rip it apart like tissue paper, the links coming apart and the shocks becoming less and less before stopping altogether. She roared at him as she began to breach the hole she'd made, her feet stamping the jagged pieces of now useless metal to the floor as he watched her. He'd taken a single step back, but he hadn't run from her.

Instead he'd drawn his weapon. He'd pulled out his gun, ready to shoot her.

She gave the metal one final push, making her portal and leaping out into the part of the room that had been exclusively his. One hand went for his gun, batting it down as she continued to bellow. Her bestial war-cry only grew in volume as she drew her lips back to put her fangs on full display.

She felt the collar getting pulled at; she'd come to the end of her leash. It was straining against how far she'd ventured into the room.

She ripped free of it, dipping her head to press her fangs to his neck.

_**~Fin**_


End file.
